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The author of Ready Player One is making a doomed web3 Fortnite cloneOpen is coming in 2024, maybe, but I get to make fun of it now
Open is coming in 2024, maybe, but I get to make fun of it now
Image credit:Readyverse
Image credit:Readyverse
In a real “no thanks, I hate it” move that seems to be aimed at making me, specifically, have some kind of coronary event, Walker Labs and Readyverse studios have announced a new battle royale game, designed with Ernest “I Tip My Hat To You, Sir!” Cline. Cline, who you will remember is the writer of Ready Player One, is apparently one of the co-founders of Readyverse, and I’m sad to see he’s still in search of a second idea.Open(that’s the name of the game, but it’s in all caps in their press assets) is an “immersive multiverse filled with nostalgia-infused biomes featuring characters and cultural legends across iconic franchises”, coming to early access this year. Also it somehow involves web3.
This may be why the teaser for the game has basically nothing in it except an Atari joystick and a character who looks like that guy from Cline’s book. You can sign up tothe waitlistfor Open now to get in on the ground floor of the early access for a multi-mode Fortnite-alike that has less licensed skins, but does have branded trainers.
OPEN | Official TeaserWatch on YouTube
OPEN | Official Teaser
I wasn’t going to write about Open. My limitless dislike for Ernest Cline’s work - and I hope you’re reading this, man - iswell documentedbut is not in itself newsworthy, and this game is obviously going to be the sort of nag that gets three yards from the starting gate and then quietly falls over. But I think it’s instructive to think about why it’s in the race at all.
Why will people like this never stop trying to make the metaverse even though it is a silly idea inaccessible to most people? Even though they aren’t actually promising anythingconcrete, just throwing around hype? When Readyverse don’t even seem to know how web3 will be integrated into the game they just announced? Why is this funded when other studios are culling devs left and right? I argue it is because a) people are greedy to such an extent that, even if you’re risk averse, something that blithely promises this much potential money makes it seem like a risk to not get involved; and b)as Dan Olson points out, for proponents the metaverse cannot fail, you can only fail to make the metaverse.
Incidentally, the metaverse in Cline’s book exists because we destroyed the planet and real life is untenable, so I don’t know why he’s so excited about making it now, especially if it depends on web3 technology that is famously bad for the environment,Ernest. Keep working on that new idea, champ.
